Improvement in puddling-furnaces



4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented March 7,1876.

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N.FETERS, PHTOLITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTUN. D C.

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N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITNOGRAFMER. WASHINGTON. D CA 4Sheet,s#-Sheet4. W. L.REYNOLDS & D. THOMASl v PUDDLING-FURNACE. No..174,573,w I Patented March7,1876.

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UNITED STATES PA'rElr Qrrron.

WILLIAM L.- REYNOLDS AND DAVID THOMAS, 0F ST- yLOUIS, MO.,-ASSIGN UltSOF ONE-THIRD THEIR RIGHT TO WILLIAM DEAN, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PUDDLING-FURNACES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,573, dated March 7,1876; application led December 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM L. REY- NoLDsand DAVID THOMAS, residents of the city and county of St. Louis, Stateof Mis souri, have invented new and useful Improvements inPuddling-Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part ofthis specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of thefurnace 5 Fig. 2, ahorizontal section thereof', taken on differentlevels, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1 5 Fig. 3, a centralvertical section Fig. 4,a plan, being a detail, showing the water-boxes;and Fig. 5 an end elevation -of the rear end ofthe furnace.

Like letters refer to like parts.

Our principal aim is to produce puddled iron more economically, and of abetter quality; and to these ends the invention has relation to theconstruction of the paddlingchamber of the furnace. It also hasreference to the heating, regulation, and introduction of the hot-airblast. It further relates to the shape ofthe neck of the furnace also,to the the mode of constructing the water-boxes; and to the provisionwhereby the openings for the entrance of the air-blast are enabled to bekept open.

Referring to the annexed drawings, A, Figs. l, 2, and 3, represent theimproved furnace, B represents the fire-place, and a a represent adouble puddling-chamber-that is, a chamber wherein two different ballscan be puddled at the same time; and for this purpose the furnace ismade comparatively long and narrow,

providing room at c, immediately beyond the bridge-wall b, where one ofthe-puddling operations can be carried on, and at a immediately beyondthe place a, and in the direction of the chimney C, for the otherpuddling operation. D D represent doors arranged respectively on eachside of the furnace, and

respectively opposite the places a and a. The

furnace-walls are built in the usual form, saving at the rear end E,near the neck of the furnace, the walls, instead of being contractedgradually toward the neck, are carried a uniform distance apart untilopposite the neck, and then, in such a direction as to form reenteringangles c e', they are carried to the furnace-neck. F, Figs. 1, 3, 5,represents an air-blast pipe, which, coming from any suitaabledirection, is forked in to two branches, f f, before entering thefurnace. These branch pipes are respectively carried into heatingboxes GG, which are located at the bottom of the chimney C, and at the end ofthe fiue H.

We do not desire to be confined to the precise shape and construction ofthe boxes G G, shown. They are made double, gg', to obtain a largeramount of heating-surface, but any suitable form will answer. From theheating-boxes the branch pipes f j", respectively, along either sideofthe furnace, and as indicated by the dotted lines in Figs. l and 2,andV as shown in Fig. 3, are conducted toward the forward end of thefurnace, and to a point just beyond the bridge-wall b, where the twobranchesl are' preferably united. One of the branches f, Figs. 2, 3, isthen carried out through the furnace-wall, and thence along thesameuntil opposite the ash-pit, where it is taken into the furnaceagain, and so as to open into'the ash-pit beneath the lire-place B. I II I I' l represent additional branch pipes leading upward from thebranches ff', 'and arranged as follows-three on either side of lthefurnace, and opposite, or thereabout, the following points: the forwardend of the chamber a a the rear end of the chamber a a', and a pointmidway between the first two named. The pipes I I, Sto., are carried upwithin the walls, to the Lipper part of the furnace, and respectivelyinto chambers J J, 8vo., arranged in the furnace-walls. The latter areperforated, as shown at K K, Snc., Fig. 3, opposite the chambers J J,Src., to enable the blast to enter the furnace. All of the pipes I I,Svc., are provided with cut-off valves M, Sto, and that part of thebranch f which enters the ash-pit is also furnished with a cutoff, L,operated by a lever, l, Fig. 1. The main branch pipes fj are containedin the furnace-walls until they pass the flue-bridge, and they are thencarried beneath the furnace bottom M. N N N, Sto., Figs. l and 2,represent doors arranged on the outside of the furnace-wall, andopposite, respectively, the chambers J J, &c.

O 0, Figs. 3 and 4, represent two similar water-boxes arranged upon thefurnace-floor, and in the manner indicated in Fig. 4. They areindependent of each other, and are suitably supplied with water. Y

The operation ot' the invention isvas follows:

The puddling-chamber is charged in the two places a and a', and thefurnace ris fired in the ordinary way. By reason, however, of theproportions of the furnace andthe relative arrangement of the places aand a/ and the fire, the heat is concentrated and economized, and thedesired result is produced with a .smaller consumption of fuel than hashitherto been used. The process is further cbeapened by the improvedmethod of using the hot-air blast, and which also enables a betterquality of iron to be produced. By means of the branch pipes I I, &c.,the blast can be admitted, as desired, to any part of the furnace,combustion can be made more complete, and the degree of heat can besuitably modified. In this way the furnace is brought under perfectcontrol, and, by reason of this, not only the right degree of heat canbe maintained, butthe furnace, it desired, can be heated differently atdifferent points. A further important advantage accrues from thiscontrol: hitherto it has been impracticable to always heat apuddlingfurnace to the highest degree desirable, for the reason that inso doing a vportion of the iron in one part of the furnace might beoverheated. With the present improvement a very high degree of heat can'be safely maintained at any point without endangering the contents ofthe furnace elsewhere. This enables the iron to be puddled at such adegree of heat as to cause the removal from the productof objectionableingredients which hitherto have remained in ordinary puddled iron. Byreason of the shape of the Wall at the neck of the furnace, the flame isthrown back into the furnace, and, in consequence, the heat is furthereconomised.` In use, the perforations in the furnace-walls,` throughwhich the blast enters from the pipes I, Src., are apt to be closed fromthe action ofthe fire upon the walls, and from the collection ofincombustible matter. In suoli a condition the doors -N N, &c. areopened, and, by the insertion of a suitable tool the closed aperturesare punctured and reopened. The lower part of the furnace is cooled bymeans oflwater circulating through the boxes O O. By using two boxesentirely independent of each other, no trouble arises from the expansionand contraction of the material composing the boxes, which difficultyexists when a single box only extending around the hearth is employed.'To increase the fire, the blast is 'turned into the ash-pit.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, Ais

l. The furnace A, chamber a a', pipes ff, boxes Gr G, pipes I I I, 8m.,`combined and operating substantially as described.

2. The furnace A, chamber a a, pipes f f', boxes G G, pipes I I, &c.,chambers J J, &c., perforations K K, &c., and doors N N, &c., combinedand operating substantially as described.l

3. The combination of the furnace A, pipes I I, &c., chambers J J, &c.,perforations K K, &c., and doors N N, &c., substantially vas described.

4. The furnace A, chamber a a/, and pipes I I,&c., chambers J J, &c.,and perforations K`K, 85e., combined and arranged substantially asdescribed. v

5. A puddling-furnace having its rear-end wall E, constructed so as toform the re-entering angles e e', substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

6. The combination of the furnace A, pipes I I, Ste., chambers J J, &c.,perforations K K, &c., and Valves i t', 85e., substantially asdescribed.

WM. L. REYNOLDS. DAVID THOMAS.

Witnesses:

Guns. D. MooDY, SAML S. BOYD. .A

